Making a Knife From Pure Silver 

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Sterling work, Will.

Top tip with silver casting, throw your mould in the furnace for a while before pouring, that way you'll get better flow through the mould and less cooling before you want it. Mum was a silver smith, learned a load about it as a kid, i have a lot of respect for jewelers that can turn metal into beautiful jewelry. Same reason i have respect for smiths in general really.

Good stuff🙌 I've always said just doing something is the best way to learn!

The dad in me when you said "That went very poorly" and I'm like "Yeah it hardly poured at all."

So many great lines, Will! “That should… might, could, do it” “I don’t know if thats what you are supposed to do, but its what we are going to do. Because i have the patience of an 8 year old.”

3:11 "That went very pourly" -Will Stelter, 2023

Will going all willynilly losing all those silver filings. He obviously doesn't care but it does make me cringe to see all that silver dust being discarded when it can be saved hahah.

"I'm going to experiment with this by whacking on it and seeing what it does" Will Stelter and every teenage boy ever

Amazing how she said yes she liked it at the end.

The bar getting stuck in the mold is the reason ingot molds walls are angled. Allows it to pop out after cooling

Wow a lot of these RU-vid smiths really just cut out the profile on a bandsaw so it was really nice to see you forge out the whole profile, it was an amazing job forging

Just me, and little knowledge, but......back in the late 60's, we had a HS Shop teacher, who showed us how to make Silver, Wide Band Rings out of Silver, Franklin and Kennedy 50 cent pieces were used..all we used was a table spoon. and light peening, with constant rotation, till desired width was achieved, Then drilled and filed to size...Viola !! Pretty cool stuff to me.

So... Just an idea. Put the silver shot in the mold and place the whole mold in the forge with a pipe like you would for heat treating. Would be a nice even heat that would melt the silver into a perfect bar.

As a silversmith I was screaming inside watching you work that silver lol but you got there in the end and looks great will

"Isiah, why don't you shut up." That had me laughing pretty hard.

That's an awesome project. Good work!

Lol, I love that I'm not the only one who uses one tool, then realized after a bit, 'oh wait's I have this other tool that is much better suited for this! Lol

Always wonderful to watch you half-ass your work.

Will Smelter

I'd love to see these for sale! Any material really! As a chef, and a lover of bracelets, its a subtle nod to two things I love.

Great job. And that was a beautiful Sheath she made.

Love it! Silver is money!

does this mean you and Franchesca are going steady now? I'm not sure about blacksmith mating rituals... lol

i always get excited to see your new content pop up in my subscriptions

A trick I use is to carbon my mold with the acetylene torch. It prevents metal from bonding , u made basic silver solder which can bond to most metals.

Will - this is amazing! I started working with silver as a hobby in the beginning of this year and have been recently working on a project to reuse my scrap silver to cast, forge, and mill it into sheet before raising. Throughout the, (so far unsuccessful), process I have often wondered wistfully at what it would be like to try and do this work with you/Alec and how much easier it would be with a power hammer; although after seeing this video, I think a legit kiln would be a more helpful addition since we only have torches! It's also funny to me to see a blacksmith's approach to a jeweler's materials - I can imagine the horror on my instructor's face seeing someone use a belt sander or a band saw to just lop off material like that.

This is possibly the most important video Will has ever made. No longer will he be plagued by roving werewolf attacks.

When you started drawing it out, you could very obviously see what your hammer work was doing. Much easier to see on camera than hot steel. You could see the deformation from each hammer blow. It makes a great (tho expensive) way to show hammer technique and what the metal is doing.

Great job man, you do such great work

When doing an ingot mold it's better to use a layer and of tracing paper because it makes a nonstick layer just under where the metal contacts each other.

As a jewelry maker its great to see you forging some precious metals! Would like to see you try mokume Gane sometime!

Love it. Silver smithing has been interesting to me since I was a boy

Silver is great, it looks amazing, it's cheap enough you don't need to worry so much about saving every particle like you do gold, and it is just hard enough to hold and take shape nicely but not need heat for anything other than softening it back up.

Really looking forward to seeing a mokume video, ive always wanted to try making it!

ginger orange ... goldfish? Carrot! I duno why but that little interaction during your sponsor bit just made me chuckle.

Definitely want to see videos about the Japanese alloys!!

Fun stuff Will! Looking good!

"I don't actually know anything." Untrue! But still hilarious. Great video.

When using a steel mold for casting silver, first cover the inside with a layer of coal with a candle flame. Do not use a steel ladle for melting, silver will stick to it. Use a ceramic crucible. Use borax or boric acid on the silver when melting it. Melt it hot, it's ready to poor when the molten surface is showing "moving" patterns...I speak from experience.

"Oh wait I have a bandsaw" Hahahaha Gold! err... Silver!

Will's whole shop is littered in sliver dust now hahaha

Great work as always 👏👏

Dropped this vid just in time for my break at work

Just to finish the look a couple of diamond set in the scale to look like pins. 😘👌 Great video 2x👍

In the future try adding ~1% Germanium. It will significantly decrease the rate the silver tarnishes.

Would love to see these for sale! In any metal really. Big up from Italy, Will. Ciao! 🇮🇹❤️🔪

Mokume gane candy canes would be a fun Christmas project!

Love the new mezzanine area for filming!

You really shined on this one.

I think every gold and silversmith is now having a hard time with their stomach, but it's a nice video.

A beautiful gift for a beautiful woman. Classy move, Will!

You have fire scale on your piece. That can be fixed. Also make sure you crucible is seasoned with flux.

Yes

I'm really interested in your Mokume gane, and shibuichi. I personally, am having trouble making Mokume. First attempt, not all layers took. Second, puddle... made a nice chunk-o cuppronickle.😅

I saw silver knife in the title, and I assumed you were preparing yourself for a possible werewolf apocalypse. The bracelet is cool too.

A dagger style bracelet would be nice 🗡

Very cool project.

Being a hobbyist silversmith I'm freaking out at the mistakes, but also understandable for someone used to working with significantly harder metals.

Do you have rollers? For shapers, flattening, curling etc

I know Damascus ones would be super expensive but even steel or bronze ones would be very cool!

Id like to see you sweep up the fileings and see how much you can get remeltig it.

I’m a very broke man trying to get the tools I need to start knife making. I’ve also tried my hand at a few other hobbies, never with a fine metal of any kind… I’ve not even got to the actual template design yet, but all I can think about is all the silver was turned to dust! I know it’s not a lot, but I’ll never afford used blacksmith tools if they go up in value from precious metals being all in/over them!.. hahaha! I did see someone wax their saw blades before cutting gold with a jewelers saw. I think it was to make it easier to cut with but also so the wax can catch all the debris and make it easier to recover later.. I’m not sure on that, I only saw it and didn’t get an explanation though. Best of luck.

More please! 😊

Well done

You preheat molds so you don't get steam explosions.

I’ve been doing some silver work recently. Watching you melt the silver in a mold without flux was a bit maddening. Then I realized you were messing with us. BUT if you plan more silver work at $25/troy ounce you might want to catch the filings and remelt them. You will waste a lot of silver if you don’t. Get a rolling mill to flatten knife shape to desired thickness then get the hammers out for shaping. Will be faster. Oh, and pop finished bracelet in drum with stainless steel shot and tumble for a while to work harden and a great finish. Then liver of sulphur for patina. But I think you already know this.

In for silver and copper bracelets Will!

Very cool!

“Greaat Success!!”

Love the vid, brother!

Watching you file reminds me that Adam Savage built a die filer I think he called it little table top reciprocal file. I only mention it because you like tools.

Wow please make more jewlery! You should work more in silver but get the right tools! It's not that expensive, 300€ and you can get all you need. Just get a grafite crucible, a bunch of casting sand and some sculpting wax! And if you can set up some acid to pickle it in. 5% Sulfuric acid 95% water. Might also be nice to look at working with 925 or 800 silver. 800 is generally used for utensils and 925 for jewlery.

I'd love to see that silver bracelet on your store.

Wow very cool

As someone who does metal casting at my university and at home, I was thinking through half the video "what are you doing". At the same time, you're working with what you have and I can respect that. If you do get into metal casting, getting crucibles would be an important part. I prefer graphite-clay since I've had two fused silica crucibles split on me while in the furnace, but that's just my experience. As for mold making, which is the most important part given it defines the shape of your object, I would suggest an oil-bonded sand like Petrobond. It is my preferred molding system, as sodium silicate needs to be mixed up and should use a CO2 tank, greensand is just annoying to maintain and I have heard that cores out of greensand are not the best, and the resin bonded sands are probably out of the scope of small scale. If you are doing jewelry or anything with a lot of small detail, you would want investment plaster and to use a lost-wax or lost-plastic system. As for making patterns so you can get your geometry in the mold, I prefer 3d printed patterns. It's super easy to do and with a bit of CAD knowledge, you can make a lot of things. Some people do say that printed patterns are too light and shift easily, that can be true and you just have to be careful when ramming up your mold. The alternative is making them out of wood or another material you can shape easily. Of course, for investment casting, you need something that burns off entirely and wax or PLA does this just fine once they get up to temperature. There is of course tons more to learn.

I love that he shows the mistakes ...

I was wondering if you looked into damascus soft steel with hard steel for a edge. If work correctly it would be like a steak knife.

Oh wait I have a bandsaw 😂

Have you ever worked with silver clay? Might be fun

Lol, that looked hard work.

Silver for monsters, steel for humans. Our boy out here about to undertake the trial of the grasses.

you should put butter in the mould so it doesnt stick

that is awesome I would definitely buy one especially if its in mokum or some other exotic steel like co- mia ❤❤😂😂😂

I have a silver pocket knife, certainly English, likely Georgian or Victorian era. All the metal is sterling, and the scales are genuine tortoise shell. It’s a gentleman’s fruit knife. The blade would tarnish, but never rust, and is certainly adequate for cutting open fruit.

Silver is expensive but could be worse, could be gold hahaha

Silver is so amazing. It's surprising it's not more popular than it is. It looks stunning.

As far as I know (which aint a lot), silver and copper just need to be heated to soften, the quench is unnecessary other than it cools it down faster to get working on it again.

Would Love to own one !

Will wearing a hat is like Morgan wallen shaving his head

Silver and gold damascus next!

@12:00 jewelers everywhere. are screaming.

Isn't the swarf from grinding and cutting worth capturing and saving? At least a small percentage? Curious. Thanks.

If will ever does any work with gold, I would love to follow behind him with a shop vac.

Ceramic crucible and borax! You got this

I was half expecting you to sharpen it and try to cut something with it before turning it into a bracelet.

Ya need to preheat the mold and sprinkle some graphite, that will stop it from sticking.. I use a graphite mold when working with gold & silver.. Wasting all that silver, Still Loved the Video. Thank you for sharing

GO GRIZ!!!

Rolling it out works better than hammering it.

Your dermal drill sounded like it was saying Nyah Nyah Nyah.